The sport media reached heretofore unthought of lows on the Lebron decision/announcement. First they fell all over themselves tweeting, commenting, rumoring, etc. Then, like jealous hyena’s forced to watch the carcass being enjoyed by a pride of lions, they screeched in unison about the pomposity of it all, the lack of tact, the hype, all of it. The very creators of the ‘over-hype’ (hyper-hype?) now are wondering aloud how it all got started…. Give me a break. How is James’ 60 minute special in ANY way less dignified than these journalists obsession with the chance to be ‘the man’ who got the scoop?

Then the hoops pundits spent most of yesterday aghast that LBJ didn’t choose THEIR pre-ordained landing spot – Chicago. Jon Barry most of all looked like he put $25k in Vegas on Chicago and lost. These experts are mocking the idea of this team being able to co-exist, win, excel, etc. Sour grapes to me. Here’s a question, How’d Team USA do in the 2008 Olympics? Exactly.

Mike Wilbon (whom I respect generally) pontificates that this “new school” athlete doesn’t stay in one place like they used in ‘his day’ and comments that no matter what, LBJ should have stayed with “his guys” and simply worked and worked until they won. Really? Fine. A couple questions for Wilbon; Mike, who was your first employer in the media world? Why didn’t you simply stay there and made it work? Why did you take the better jobs, the ESPN gig? Why?

One wonders if all 3 of these guys had gone to NYC if the spin wouldn’t be, ‘this is marvelous! This is great for the NBA, for the Mecca of basketball,’ blah blah blah…. I think it would. We are seeing a subtle hoops elitism, in that only ‘select’ cities/franchises deserve this type of luck, dynasty or star power. Who are those select, pre-ordained children of the gods? Why LA, Boston , NYC, Chicago of course. What arrogance. What pathetic fear is now crawling through the NBA elite and media. There’s a new, very big, strong, and focused sheriff in town, and he ain’t your friend. We have heard this all before. During UM’s long dominance of college football and in 1997 when the media tried to cheapen the Marlins World Series win, e.g. too young a franchise, they bought the best players, it’s not a baseball town, etc.

The saddest clown of all, Dan Gilbert. No more pathetic, desperate, whiny sports person in memory. Terribly worded letter. “Cowardly betrayal?” Oh, so if you’d wooed Wade to Cleveland you were OK with THAT betrayal since its not YOUR guy leaving? Oh, OK…. The same team that tried to get Bosh there – and thus not to stay in Toronto – is whimpering like the scorned one-night stand. Have SOME dignity Cleveland and stop acting, well, like Cleveland.

And that is the crux of it, THEY hate US. Miami is hated they way NY used to be; because of our diversity, our rise, our attitude. We saw it first with the UM Hurricanes, and in more subtle ways when the national media reports on events here. They do not think we have paid our dues.

Yes, we here in Miami aren’t classically loyal or true” or even deserving in the truest sense of the word. We have been spoiled, to tell the truth. The Marlins win a WS in their 5th year; Dolphins win a Super bowl in their 7th year; Panthers are in a Stanley freaking Cup Final after 3 years; the Hurricanes rule college football for an 18-year span (1984 -2002); We got another World Series win, another SB win, and an NBA title.

Wanna know our secret? The unspoken deal we make with our teams? We aren’t to be trifled with. We are not blindly loyal. We don’t appreciate half-assed efforts (hear that Mr. Loria?). We have a healthy balance to our sports. We don’t spend money supporting bad or average teams. Pat Riley gets it. Win or be forgotten is the mantra here. Sorry if that doesn’t meet the standards of a Cleveland / Cubs / Bills fan waiting in the cold to see a crappy team. I get it. WE get it. You’re ‘tougher’ than us in that sense. OK, so we’re soft, immature front-runners.